II. Mobile in 2013
As we turn the corner into the New Year, we share our predictions for the mobile industry in 2013.
III. Fake Online Reviews
Bogus online reviews are becoming an area of increasing concern as more and more studies reveal just how prevalent they’ve become. We explain how to spot a fake review. Gartner predicts that by 2014, 10-15% of online reviews will be paid for by companies.

Tips on Tap

1. Instaport
How to delete your Instagram account and download your photos: The new Instagram Terms of Use, effective 1/19/13, have many users concerned about how Instagram (and ultimately, its owner, Facebook) can use their photos and data. Whether you want to leave Instagram or not, Instaport is a useful free web app that allows you to download your Instagram photos to a ZIP file. Be prepared for a long wait time during peak hours. Photos will be 612×612 pixels. Export to social networks like Facebook and Flickr is supposedly coming soon.

2. RedLaser
This highly acclaimed app works as a shopping tool that allows you to scan barcodes while shopping to compare costs at nearby locations and online. redlaser.com

3. How to Hide Your Last Name on Foursquare
Effective 1/28/13, Foursquare’s updated privacy policy means that users’ full names will always be displayed. Sometimes Foursquare only shows the first name and last initial, but users found this confusing, according to Foursquare’s announcement email. You can alter your full name in your settings and make your last name an initial (or anything you want).

Google Shopping– Melanie sounds off on the degradation of Google Shopping. What’s worse– that Google Shopping replaced natural search results with paid ones, or the terrible excuse they’ve given for doing so? Why Etsy sellers and small businesses will lose.

The Notorious Apple Maps– Not since Antennagate has Apple made such a blunder in user experience. Get ready for a lot of u-turns.

The Digital Dive PodcastTM: Get the most out of technology… without ever fully giving in

The marketing world seems less enamored with Google+ now than during the weeks surrounding Chris Brogan’s paid (stupidly controversial) tutorial. That should not be disheartening. I am rooting for Google+ because it is worlds better than Facebook for users and for the Internet at large. But if it continues to be used primarily by the social marketing niche, that might be just fine. At present, compared to Facebook, Google+ is not ideal for businesses. We keep wanting to encourage the whole world to shift over or doubly occupy the two platforms. It’s a matter of convenience or social media compulsion when we ask our Facebook-addicted friends to hangout in a Hangout, to remove their FB syringes.

One of the strongest Google+ features is the easy-to-find quality content. The level of interaction and exchange is unparalleled. It has search (Facebook is out) and it’s connected to Google apps and profiles (Quora is out). Continue reading Exaggerated Growth of Google Plus→

PC Mag’s July 2011 poll indicated that user dissatisfaction with Facebook is at such an all-time high that up to 50% might be willing to abandon the social network.

I read a thoughtful statement regarding this on Social Media Today by David Amerland: “Loyalty is a myth. Like banks and supermarket chains discovered in real life, the public is notoriously fickle, using whichever service gives them the most of what they want in a particular moment in time.”

Brand loyalty is more tenuous than loyalty to a social network. Granted, Facebook is a brand, but in a different way than Crest or Tiffany is. If anything, the high disapproval ratings of Facebook for its privacy policy and other flaws suggest that people use it because it has a monopoly, it’s all they know, and it’s convenient since everyone else is there. That’s a recipe for losing market share.

Force of Habit

Assuming that because Facebook has 750 million users, it will remain ubiquitous is naive. Plenty of widespread, hugely popular, go-to platforms have been abandoned en masse for the BBD (Bigger Better Deal). As Chris Brogan said on Six Pixels of Separation episode 262 when Mitch Joel asked if people would port to a new platform, “Two words: Cassette tapes…. There’s a new format in town. You kind of adapt or you find yourself saying “Wow how come nobody’s in my top 8 on Myspace?”

I don’t see Facebook going away yet, but Google+ will infiltrate Facebook’s market share over the next couple years. When Google+ incorporates businesses and brands, it will explode, as long as beta maintains such high growth.

Search

Content you post to Google+ is search-friendly. If you are promoting a brand (your personal brand most likely at this point), every Google Plus update has the potential to put helpful notches into your SEO belt. Since search is increasingly social search, status updates on a search-friendly network will be more valuable than those on Facebook.